All Blog Posts
Alberta Court Finds Irreparable Harm in Trade Secret Case – Did it also Apply Doctrine of Inevitable Disclosure?
May 28, 2024
Topics: Blog, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Confidential Documents, Injunctions, Trade Secrets
SHAC Solutions Inc. v. Guenther, 2024 ABKB 145 Employers seeking interlocutory injunctions to prevent competition or solicitation by former employees often fail to meet the irreparable harm branch of the test for relief, with courts finding that damages can be readily quantified. In a recent decision, however, the Alberta Court…
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Remedial Flexibility Rescues Claim for Breach of Confidence
November 21, 2023
Topics: Blog, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Confidential Documents, Damages, Disgorgement of Profits
Skycope Technologies Inc. v. Jia, 2023 BCSC 1288 The law provides for a broad range of remedies to address breach of confidence. In a recent decision where the plaintiff had not established any financial loss, the B.C. Supreme Court opted for disgorgement of a large sale by the defendants as…
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Privacy Rights, Damage Assessments and the Importance of Pleadings
May 30, 2023
Topics: Blog, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Confidential Documents, Damages, Disgorgement of Profits, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
Several recent decisions are of interest to those advising on, and litigating, employee competition cases. First, the Alberta privacy commissioner finds that employers, in some circumstances, may disclose their former employees’ restrictive covenants to third parties. Two Alberta Courts provide analysis on assessing damages in successful actions for unlawful competition.…
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Vendor of Trucking Company Ordered to Live Up to Five Year Non-Compete
February 14, 2023
Topics: Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
The B.C. Supreme Court has granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the vendor of a trucking company, Sonic Transport Ltd., from competing for a period of five years past the ending of his employment with the purchaser. Diamond Delivery bought Sonic from Leslie and Pam Calder in 2015. Leslie continued to…
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Investment Advisor’s Notification to Clients of “Options” Amounts to Solicitation
February 6, 2023
Topics: Injunctions, Investment Advisors, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
During the running of a one-month notice of resignation given to her employer, an investment advisor wrote to the firm’s clients advising of her departure to establish a new business and of their investment options: staying at the firm, move to her new business or going elsewhere. In responding to…
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Injunction on Faithless, Family Fiduciaries
Lifted After One Year
October 19, 2022
Topics: Blog, Injunctions
Forward Signs Inc. v. Philcan Group Inc., 2022 ONSC 5593 The Ontario Superior Court lifts an interim injunction on two departed fiduciaries, finding that one year was more than adequate to protect the plaintiffs from the springboard effect of the employees’ rather egregious pre-departure conduct. The absence of evidence of…
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Are Client Lists Produced from Memory or Personal Records Confidential? An Alberta Court Offers a More Nuanced Analysis
April 18, 2022
Topics: Blog, Confidential Documents
GG & HH Inc v 2306084 Alberta Ltd, 2022 ABQB 58 The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench declines to extend an injunction prohibiting departed pharmacists from contacting the applicant’s patients. While accepting as plausible the pharmacists’ explanation that they relied solely on memory, personal records and community networks to contact…
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Court Applies Lesser Scrutiny to Non-Solicit, Finding Investment Advisor’s Sale of Good Will in Clients Part of Sale of a Business
September 8, 2021
Topics: Blog, Investment Advisors, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
Mandeville Holdings Inc. v. Santucci, 2021 ONSC 4321 An investment advisor’s negotiated sale of the good will in his book of business to a firm causes the Ontario Superior Court to construe his non-solicitation covenant as part of the sale of a business, not within an employment context. The court issues…
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Post-Resignation Restrictive Covenant Upheld as a Commercial, not Employment Agreement
May 24, 2021
Topics: Blog, Non-Compete Enforceability, Non-Solicit Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants
WJ Packaging Solutions Corp. v Park, 2021 BCSC 316 The BC Supreme Court holds that a five-year agreement prohibiting competition by a departed employee is enforceable, with less scrutiny applied as being a commercial agreement. The decision raises interesting considerations for employers contemplating negotiating non-compete or non-solicit covenants with former employees…
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The Re-Emergence of Blue-Pencil Severance of (some) Restrictive Covenants
December 30, 2020
Topics: Blog, Blue Penciling, Injunctions, Non-Compete Enforceability, Restrictive Covenants, Sale of a Business
City Wide Towing and Recovery Service Ltd v Poole, 2020 ABCA 305 The Alberta Court of Appeal holds that blue-pencil severance may be used to alter restrictive covenants that restrain employee competition, provided the covenant was part of the sale of a business. The practice of “blue-pencil” severance in employment…
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